Codex Ashleyensis Primus
by FPB
Summary: Rumours started spreading over the summer. Dumbledore, it seemed, had somehow managed to find the most ancient magical book known.


CODEX ASHLEYENSIS PRIMUS

By F.

The rumour started spreading towards the end of the summer.

By the end of August, wizarding families with children begin to think of sending them back to Hogwarts, and many wizarding folks find themselves thinking of the old school. This is probably one reason why the rumour spread so fast and raised such interest.

….

"Yes, I head it too. Maire Nic Seachnaill at the Irish Ministry told me that it was certain. The Codex Ashleyensis has been found, and Dumbledore has it."

…

"According to my friend… sorry, can't tell you his name, this would ruin him at the Ministry… Dumbledore must have spent half the patrimony of Hogwarts getting the book."

"That should please Fudge – he's always looking for ways to weaken Dumbledore's position"

….

"Nonsense – it did not cost Dumbledore a penny. He just scared the Carrows into giving it to him."

"You're joking."

"Of course not. It's all over Auror Central."

…

"The truth is that the Carrows are Dumbledore's agents at You-Know-Whose court. He did not want to give them away, but this book was too important."

"Don't be ridiculous! The Carrows, agents of Dumbledore? They killed my uncle, and they are the most loyal murderers You-Know-Who has!"

(The first speaker insisted that he was right, and ended up insinuating that the Carrows must have had some good reason to kill the second speaker's uncle. This conversation ended in a fistfight and a wizard's duel.)

…..

"The Carrows have nothing to do with it. That is a rumour started by Dumbledore. He intends to seed distrust among the Death Eaters."

"So who found the book?"

"Heck, he probably did it himself."

…..

"The book was found by the Goblins, when they opened a vault that had been unclaimed for 200 years, as the law says."

…

"Minister," asked the _Daily Prophet_'s man, "what does the Ministry have to say about the rumours that have been spreading about an ancient book?"

"Only this. The Ministry is pleased to confirm that Professor Dumbledore has gained or is about to gain possession of the famous _Codex Ashleyensis Primus_, which he intends to place in the Restricted Section of Hogwarts library and to make available to suitably qualified scholars."

"Is it true that this is the most ancient book in the world? That it contains history lost until now?"

"Those are rumours. We shall have to let the scholars do their work before we say anything certain about _Ashleyensis_."

…..

Most Death Eaters liked to get away from their Lord as soon as decently possible after a reunion or any other kind of meeting. It was difficult and risky to calculate exactly how much time could be let pass before one's courteous retreat did not seem too much like a scared or conscience-ridden scuttle; for the Dark Lord always watched everyone's behaviour. But this time, several Death Eaters stayed, consumed with curiosity, wishing to question their lord.

"The book is all they say it is. I found it in Albania, in the ruins of an ancient monastery destroyed by the Ottoman Turks, and naturally enough I made a study of it."

"But… master… if it is all they say, why give it to Dumbledore?"

"I saw several advantages in doing so. The book is full of stories and facts, but it has practically no magic lore one could use, and no perceptible magical power. I had taken all I could out of it. But, if I managed to make my enemies curious about it, I could perhaps gain some advantages from their efforts to find it. It was worth a try, at least."

"And did you, master? Did you?"

"Time will tell. I have laid several traps for Dumbledore, and there is no evidence that he has seen any of them yet."

…..

"The difficulty was that, at first, Albus did not know he was dealing with You-Know-Who," said Minerva McGonagall to Poppy Pomfrey as they walked down one of Hogwarts' corridors towards the Library. "When he did, a lot of inexplicable little things that had been happening since we started negotiating for _Ashleyensis_ fell together."

"Such as what?"

"Well, such as… never mind" – Minerva's voice fell, as a number of students appeared from a staircase and joined them. "I'll tell you some other time. The thing is, we think we outsmarted the Enemy this time. He thinks he has Albus where he wants." Poppy Pomfrey smiled in return. To both women, it was axiomatic that Albus Dumbledore could see through any trap laid by Lord Voldemort.

More and more students were joining them from any corner, all headed for the Library, all terribly excited. By the time they reached the Library gate, Minerva McGonagall and Poppy Pomfrey looked a bit like a couple of stately galleons surrounded by a sea of small, chattering barques. Even the sallow and neurotic Madam Pince wore an unwonted smile and her best and most ancient robes, as if to welcome an honoured guest.

….

"There is another reason why I wanted Dumbledore and his party to have _Ashleyensis_," said Voldemort when he was left alone with two of his most loyal and feared followers, Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback. "It is just the kind of literature they want to read."

"What do you mean, Master?" said Bellatrix almost in a whisper. She could never get over her awe and delight at his mere presence, an almost orgasmic feel of power and bloodlust."

"I mean that it is full of the kind of stories they would delight in. Let them all believe in heroism and selflessness. I would send them heroic tales by the cartful, ten a day, if I had my way. Let them delude themselves that heroism means victory. Let them delude themselves that they are heroes. One day we will disabuse them."

…

The crowd in the Library had grown so dense that people had to stand, or to sit on the reading tables, or to stop outside the gate. Practically every student and faculty member in the School was present; and, having come somewhat at random, they were unusually scattered. Severus Snape was displeased to find himself virtually alone among a crowd of smiling, chattering Hufflepuffs, and Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle ahd the humiliating experience of having their few and ill-informed notions about _Ashleyensis_ casually squashed by the couple of dozen Ravenclaws in whose midst they unhappily found themselves. The Ravenclaws then proceeded to a confident debate about ancient Codices of which Draco could perhaps understand a word in three. Worse still, the debate drew, from some infernal recess where she had been lurking, Hermione Granger, who cheerfully joined in while the heir of Malfoy did not dare to open his mouth for fear of looking as foolish as he felt.

The other Gryffindors were dispersed, but the Quidditch team, with Harry Potter came in together, barely cleaned from the sweat and dirt of practice, with Ron and Ginny Weasley and Dean Thomas tagging along, and found themselves crowding the landing outside the gate. Which meant that they were among those who were forced to move, and make some space somehow, when the Headmaster finally came.

Normally, Dumbledore would draw the attention of every student and faculty member, and indeed he looked very impressive, tall and enormously bearded, dressed in his best and most elaborately embroidered silk. Like everyone else (except for the Gryffindor Quidditch players), he seemed to feel that the occasion justified his most stately dress. But this time, everyone's eyes were on the object floating just before him, held in a ray of light from his wand.

It did indeed look remarkable. For a start, it was larger than any _Codex_ they had ever seen. The Hogwarts Library had a great deal of ancient manuscripts and scrolls, but none remotely as bulky; the skins of dozens of whole sheep must have gone in making the parchment. No wonder that, as one sharp-eyed Ravenclaw pointed out to the others, it seemed to be made of different quires of parchment, of different origin and size, bound together in one book.

The binding was equally impressive, though ruined. Clearly, at some point, someone had made away with the precious stones and metals that had originally decorated the binding, leaving only the marks of tearing on the framework of lead that bound leather and wood together. But the leather and wood were still in place, and the binding still held the pages together. Altogether, guessed one Hufflepuff, the book must weigh at least eighty pounds. No wonder old Dumbledore is using magic to carry it, answered a Slytherin.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen," rose Dumbledore's clear voice above the whispering din, "here it is. Considering how beset the whole wizarding world has been with rumours, I do not suppose I have to tell you much about _Codes Ashleyensis Primus_. However, given that many of these rumours were very wide of the mark, perhaps a few remarks might not be useless.

"_Codex Ashleyensis Primus_ was found, as its name implies, among the collection of a Muggle book collector in Ashley Gwynnvawr in Montgomeryshire, Wales. We have good reason to believe that it did not originate there, and in fact there are some colleagues from Transylvania and Greece who are coming over to see whether they can confirm their suspicions about its origin.

"As for what we intend to do with it, we have created a magical copy from which a number of scribes are already at work making copies. Magic cannot keep a perfect copy in being for ever, but it will last enough to be copied in turn. As soon as a sound copy is available, it will be placed in the Library and you will be able to read it if you wish. The original will be made accessible to scholars from around the world.

"No, the book is not magical. It carries no ancient enchantments, and the few modern ones placed on it by interested parties have been deleted. It is simply an account of ancient ages, a collection of stories that even the sages of Transylvania had thought lost for ever. It is a great advance in History of Magic… and much of it, I may add, makes singularly enjoyable reading."

Dumbledore magically raised the book to a position where almost everyone, by raising their heads, could see. Then the great cover opened, to reveal the first page.

Liber historiarum et sermonum antiquissimum

_**A Lhepandus savius collecta**_

In quo inveniuntur Ainuorum Musicam, Liber de Silmarillium vel de ira Feanoris et falso iuramento, Liber de fine Numenor, Carmen Earendil atque Eluing, Liber de Hobbitibus, Gesta Hurin et Turin Turambar, Liber de sermonibus elvorum et hominum, Carmen Gondolin, Carmen de ira deorum, Liber de bello Isildur, Liber de aetatibus, Prophetias Malbeth, Liber de rebus gestis Osgiliath, Liber de annulis et aetate tertia, carmen de casu Theoden, carmen in laude Frothonis Novemdigitati, et Liber de bellis Aragorn regis magni. Cum adnotationibus Lhepandi, Saevatravi et saviorum alium antiquorum.

And a number of Ravenclaws and teachers looked at each other with a wild surmise, thinking of what they had heard until then: rumours of an age so ancient that no monument or coherent narrative of it had survived…

END OF THE STORY


End file.
